Leads on Moving Targets With Pistols

I know that I have readers who believe in liberty, tolerance, and free speech, as long as it doesn’t have anything to do with Jesus…If that’s you, I ask for a few moments of tolerance, open-mindedness and I think you’ll appreciate what I’m about to say.

Today is Good Friday. The day when a lot of the world celebrates the day that Jesus was crucified as a sacrifice to cover over or atone for sins.

I want to take you back before that…to the garden at Gethsemane…when a large crowd of Temple guards armed with swords and clubs came to arrest Jesus. As they went to arrest Jesus, one of Jesus’ disciples, Peter, drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of the Temple guards.

There’s a couple of things that are very interesting about this…

First, earlier, in Luke 22:36, Jesus told his disciples that if they didn’t own a sword, that they should sell their cloak and go buy one. Not a knife for cutting cheese, bread, or rope…but a sword, which was one of the main law enforcement and battle weapons of the time. Some might have even called it an “assault weapon.”

He said, “Put your sword back in its place. For all who live by the sword will die by the sword.”

And then he healed the guard’s ear and went with them, knowing what was to come.

A lot of warriors feel alienated by the “modern” Church…but in large part, that’s because a lot of “modern” churches don’t understand warriors. Not modern warriors and not warriors whose stories are told throughout the Bible.

And they definitely don’t understand violence.

The warrior ethos is highlighted throughout the Bible…definitely more in the Old Testament, but Jesus surrounded himself with rough men who were ready and willing to fight the good fight…both physically and spiritually.

Peter was outnumbered and outgunned.

The Bible doesn’t tell us that any of the other disciples had his back.

But he took the fight to the bad guys anyhow.

Modern day “Peters” stopped flight 93 from being another guided missile on 9/11.

More recently, Coach Feis was a “Peter” when he put himself between his students and the shooter at Parkland.

“Peters” regularly stop killers before they get the label “active shooter” and make the headlines.

It was a “Peter” who stopped the mosque attacks last month in New Zealand.

Thank God for Peters.

One last point that needs to be made on this subject…the 10 Commandments don’t prohibit killing.

They prohibit murder.

One is selfish.

The other is not.

And every country that I know of recognizes that difference with their laws.

But churches still use mistranslations that say “thou shall not kill” which is assaulting to people in the military who have killed evil people for their country, law enforcement who have killed in the line of duty, and anyone who has killed in self-defense.

The mistranslation of this Commandment is one of the factors that has alienated warriors from churches throughout time.

Fortunately, there are churches across the country that recognize that violence is a tool and that sometimes it’s what’s needed to stop evil.

With that in mind, here’s to all warriors finding the internal peace that passes understanding this Easter weekend.

The next thing I want to talk about is shooting moving targets with a pistol.

This one may be going a little too far down the rabbit hole for some people. But if you shoot a lot with a pistol, one of the questions that you’ll run into eventually is how much to lead when you’re shooting a moving target.

And with both, IDPA and USPSA adding pistol caliber carbine divisions, knowing the leads for slow-moving bullets on moving targets (or reverse leads when you’re moving) is becoming a big deal to a lot of shooters.

It might be in a match, it might be hunting (or a varmint of opportunity), or, God forbid…your first time to think about it is in a life or death situation.

One of our goals is to help you develop skills BEFORE you need them…so that the first time that you think about a situation isn’t when you’re in a fight for your life.

One aspect of shooting that throws a LOT of shooters off is how to shoot moving targets. It’s difficult with a rifle, but it’s even more difficult with a pistol bullet that’s moving at 1/3 the speed! Especially when you don’t have a nice long barrel to help you shoot “instinctively” like you do with a rifle or shotgun.

So, I’m going to show you a chart and then I want you to immediately forget it…it’s too much to remember, but it’s good to see and understand at a surface level:

But if you’re like me, I can’t remember charts—under stress or not—and I need a way to cheat.

So, here’s the cliff’s note version:

Walking target: Hold even with the edge of the front sight.

Mover in a competitive match: Aim over the middle of one side of your rear sight.

Running/sprinting target: Hold even with the edge of the rear sight.

Running/sprinting animal: Increase hold as necessary.

I’ve verified this with Bianchi movers, other movers of known speed, and coyotes moving at an angle or at a slow trot. Your specific DOPE (data on past engagements) will be specific to you.

Your specific “cheat” will depend on the length of the slide on your gun, the width of your sights, length of your arms, stance, as well as your specific visual cortex. But you can use my cheat of “outside of the front sight for walking and outside of the rear sight for running” or the charts as a starting point.

You see, when you see a target moving, that image gets focused on the back of your eyes and causes a chemical reaction. That chemical reaction changes the visual signal to an electrical signal that gets split and then re-combined in the visual cortex. The brain interprets it, and then sends a signal to the muscles in your arm to track the target and eventually to your trigger finger to press the trigger.

All of this takes time. And the amount of time depends on how quickly you process visual images. Some people may have to increase their lead by as much as 2-3 times and others may be right on the money, but a little time on the gun will tell you for sure.

And, for most targets and most distances that you’ll be shooting at, holding at the edge of the front sight for a walking target and at the outer edge of the rear sight for a running target will get you on target.

Is this extreme? Is this unlikely? I’d say yes, except for the fact that I’m constantly surprised at how often it’s been useful…from moving targets at matches to raccoons, coyotes and other chicken killers we run into on our property on a regular basis. And I used it on the evil porcupine that did THIS to my baby girl (30+ quills & a very expensive vet bill)

And, in a defensive or active shooter situation, it’s nice to know that I won’t have to overthink my aim…I know the math, I know how it plays out in the real world, and as long as I do my part I can make effective hits on a moving target.

My hope is that this will inspire you to try this out…either by spending some time shooting moving targets or by moving while shooting still targets.

Article from https://dryfiretrainingcards.com/blog/leads-on-moving-targets-with-pistols/